Expressive Approach

Expressive Approach
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Expressive Approach
The child I located for this activity is from my neighborhood and she showed significant cognitive, linguistic, emotional, and physical development. For purposes of this assignment, I decided that we engage in an art session so that I could effectively make observations on the child’s development. In terms of cognitive development, I made the following observations for the child who was aged five years. Firstly, the child was able to draw a house and detail aspects such as the windows, chimney and a door. Moreover, before she began to draw the child was able to make an effort in writing her name. The other cognitive development that I observed in the child includes the fact that the child could draw without anyone’s assistance. Further, through cognitive development, the child was able to express ideas from the past. For example, the child informed me that the house she had drawn was from something she had seen recently in the neighborhood. According to Kinniburgh, Blaustein, Spinazzola and Van der Kolk (2017) children can also show cognitive development through role-playing. Indeed, during the observation, we took turns with the child to color the house. In essence, I learned that at the age of five, children are supposed to have gained some cognitive skills.
In terms of linguistic development, I also made several observations about the child. Firstly, she was able to construct sentences but she was using incorrect grammar.

Additionally, the pronunciation for the child was also a bit childish. For example, she could not pronounce the word chimney correctly during the observation. The other observation I made is that the child was constantly asking questions on the various aspects she could not understand. For instance, I tried to teach her how to pronounce some few words during the activity. According to Ramirez-Esparza, Garcia-Sierra, and Kuhl (2014), social interactions can be used to enhance an infant’s speech. Additionally, the child had also developed some aspects of vocabulary that they used to communicate. For example, she was able to identify the colors used as well as the shapes. One of the aspects I learned from this observation is that people around the child can influence their speech and pronunciation of words.
At the same time, the child I observed also showed notable social and emotional development. The first thing I observed is that the child wanted approval from adults before proceeding with something. Moreover, she also preferred that we compete in the activity instead of her drawing alone. For example, she asked me to draw a house so that we could compare what we had drawn. She also exhibited a good control over her emotions; for example, when I arrived at their home she was not in a good mood but once I told her that we were going to draw, her face lit up. Furthermore, she was also boastful about her drawings and showed a desire to excel once I showed her what I had drawn in my paper. The other thing I noticed about the child is that she enjoyed group play; for example, if she was drawing a door for the house, she asked me to draw mine too. Additionally, there were also some instances where the child displayed shame in what she did by looking down. I also noticed that she could often argue with her mother when she needed something but responded effectively to disciplined-based bargaining before receiving what she wanted. In this aspect, I have learned that emotional and social development of infants is important as it enhances their interactions with peers and adults.
I also observed the child’s physical development in terms of gross and fine motor skills. Firstly, I observed that the child could use a variety of equipment during our sessions. For example, she could use a ruler and a pencil to ensure that her drawing was presentable. Indeed, the child also showed fine motor skills by the way she handled the pencils and colors during the session. According to Bedford, Pickles, and Lord (2016) the development of motor skills in children prepare them on how to interact with the world. For example, I noticed that during my interaction with the child, she could often draw something on her paper and ask me to guess what it was. The other aspect of physical development I noticed for the child was that she could count using her index finger. In general, I learned that at five years of age, children can show significant gross and fine motor skills.
The aspects of the activity that the child enjoyed included using different colors to depict the various parts of the house. For example, she painted the outer walls yellow while the door was painted in blue. The other aspect that the child enjoyed was comparing her drawing to mine so as to look for any similarities and also improve her skills. However, the child did not like when I told her what not to do; for example, she rejected my ideas on how a window should look like. Additionally, the child also struggled when it came to concentrating on the drawing activity as she could constantly pester her mother for her phone to play games.
According to Campbell et al (2016), emotional competence is critical for children due to the drastic changes they undergo during their first five years. Indeed, the child I observed, in this case, expressed their emotions in different ways. Firstly, she could threaten to cry when something was denied. Additionally, when she was happy she could offer a smile as well as offer a hug. The other way in which she expressed her emotions is by rolling on the floor continuously until someone picked her up. According to Shewark and Blandon (2015), parents should learn how children express these emotions differently so as to respond effectively.
In my estimation, I believe that the activity was developmentally appropriate. I was able to challenge the child to use their skills to come up with a drawing of something they had seen recently. This was able to observe the child’s cognitive, social and physical skills among others. However, there are several things I would do differently if this was an actual counseling session. For example, I would offer various interventions to the child’s parents to deal with the emotions expressed by the child. Furthermore, I would also combine the learning activity with another activity such as playing with objects so that I could observe the child’s skills for more time. In general, the aspects I have learned from this observation will be important for my future practice where I seek to work with more children.
References
Bedford, R., Pickles, A., & Lord, C. (2016). Early gross motor skills predict the subsequent development of language in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism research, 9(9), 993-1001.Campbell, S. B., Denham, S. A., Howarth, G. Z., Jones, S. M., Whittaker, J. V., Williford, A. P., … & Darling-Churchill, K. (2016). Commentary on the review of measures of early childhood social and emotional development: Conceptualization, critique, and recommendations. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 45, 19-41.
Kinniburgh, K. J., Blaustein, M., Spinazzola, J., & Van der Kolk, B. A. (2017). Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency: A comprehensive intervention framework for children with complex trauma. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 424-430.
Ramírez‐Esparza, N., García‐Sierra, A., & Kuhl, P. K. (2014). Look who’s talking: speech style and social context in language input to infants are linked to concurrent and future speech development. Developmental science, 17(6), 880-891.Shewark, E. A., & Blandon, A. Y. (2015). Mothers’ and Fathers’ Emotion Socialization and Children’s Emotion Regulation: A Within‐Family Model. Social Development, 24(2), 266-284.